Intangible Cultural Heritage 2 GA
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ITH/08/2.GA/CONF.202/9 Paris, 10 May 2008 Original: English
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATES PARTIES TO THE
CONVENTION FOR THE SAFEGUARDING OF THE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
Second Session
UNESCO Headquarters, Room II, 16 to 19 June 2008
Item 9 of the Provisional Agenda: Election of the Members of the Committee
Resolution required: paragraph 8
1. Article 5 of the Convention provides that, once the number of States Parties to the Convention has reached 50, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage shall be composed of 24 States Parties, elected by the General Assembly of the States Parties. According to Article 6 of the Convention, States Members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four years, and the election shall obey the principle of equitable geographical representation and rotation. The General Assembly shall renew half of the States Members of the Committee every two years.
2. The General Assembly elected the first 18 States Members of the Committee on 29 June 2006;
it elected six more on 9 November 2006. The General Assembly then selected by lot 12 of the Committee Members whose terms of office would be limited to two years, in accordance with Article 6.3 of the Convention.
3. At its first session, when discussing its Rules of Procedure, the General Assembly decided that the election of Members of the Committee shall be conducted on the basis of the electoral groups of UNESCO, it being understood that “Group V” shall consist of two separate groups, one for the African and one for the Arab States (Rule 13.1). It further decided that the seats in the Committee shall be distributed among electoral groups in proportion to the number of States Parties from each group, provided that, after such distribution, at least three seats would be attributed to each group in a 24-member Committee (Rule 13.2 (ii)). The Assembly subsequently adopted its Rules of Procedure “except, concerning Rule 13.2, the possibility to fix an upper limit to the number of seats per electoral group. This question shall be considered anew at the next session of the General Assembly of States Parties and could take the form of a new sub-paragraph 13.2 (iii). In that event, it would be adopted by simple majority” (Resolution 1.GA 3).
4. As at 19 June 2008, there are 93 States Parties to the Convention:
Group Nº of States
Committee Members
until States Parties non Members of the Committee
2010 2008
I 11 Turkey Belgium,
France Cyprus, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Spain
II 16 Belarus,
Estonia, Hungary
Bulgaria, Romania
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Slovakia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Uzbekistan
III 20 Mexico,
Peru Bolivia,
Brazil Argentina, Belice, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Uruguay, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
IV 13 India,
Viet Nam China,
Japan Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea
V(a) 21 Central
African Republic, Gabon, Mali
Nigeria,
Senegal Burkina Faso, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Níger, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Zambia, Zimbabwe
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V(b) 12 United Arab Emirates
Algeria, Syrian Arab Republic
Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen
5. The distribution of seats per electoral group in proportion to the number of States Parties as at 19 June 2008 would result in a distribution of 23 seats as indicated in the table below, with the twenty-fourth seat remaining to be allocated:
Group Nº of States Parties (19/06/08)
Nº of Seats per group
(19/06/08) Terms expiring
I 11 11/93x24 =2.8387 = 3 2
II 16 16/93x24 = 4.1290 = 4 2
III 20 20/93x24 = 5.1612 = 5 2
IV 13 13/93x24 = 3.3548 = 3 2
V(a) 21 21/93x24 = 5.4193 = 5 2
V(b) 12 12/93x24 = 3.0967 = 3 2
Total 93 23 12
6. The figures in the table above show that all electoral groups have at least three seats after distributing the seats by electoral group in proportion to the number of States Parties. The General Assembly may wish to determine that the Rules of Procedure as adopted at the first session of the General Assembly are adequate to ensure equitable geographic representation and may therefore wish to conclude its consideration of the desirability of introducing an upper limit in the number of seats to be attributed to any electoral group.
7. In accordance with Rule 14 of the Rules of Procedure, the Secretariat asked all States Parties three months before the opening of the present session of the Assembly whether they wished to stand for election to the Committee, while recalling that, according to the principle of rotation mentioned in Article 6.6 of the Convention, a State Member of the Committee may not be elected for two consecutive terms. The provisional list of candidate States Parties is included in document ITH/08/2.GA/CONF.202/INF.3.
8. The General Assembly may wish to adopt the following Resolution:
DRAFT RESOLUTION 2.GA 9 The General Assembly,
1. Having examined document ITH/08/2.GA/CONF.202/9;
2. Recalling Article 6 of the Convention;
3. Further recalling its Resolution 1.EXT.GA 3 and Rule 13 of its Rules of Procedure;
4. Decides that Rule 13 of its Rules of Procedure in its current state adequately addresses the question of ensuring equitable geographic representation;
5. Further decides that, for the purpose of the election at its second session, the 24 seats of the Committee be distributed among electoral groups as follows: Group I: *
3
seats; Group II: * seats; Group III: * seats ; Group IV: * seats; Group V(a): * seats;
and Group V(b): * seats;
6. Elects the following 12 States Parties to the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage for a term of four years from the date of election:
Group I:
Group II:
Group III:
Group IV:
Group V(a):
Group V(b):
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